Biographical entry: Hepworth, Tom and Diana ( - 1994)

Died

1994

Details

In 1947, English couple Tom and Diana Hepworth purchased the ketch Arthur Rogers, previously the Falmouth pilot boat, and sailed to New Zealand via Panama and Tahiti with various crews. Always elegant, Diana was a former London fashion model. They arrived in the New Hebrides in 1957 as traders, and then moved to the Solomon Islands, opened a trade store at Santa Cruz and leased small Pigeon Island (274 by 91 metres) in the Reef Islands. For a long time their Santa Cruz store was the only trade store in the Eastern Outer Islands. They lived an idyllic life as traders, until Tom died in 1994 and Diana died late in the 1990s. They had three children, Natasha, and twin boys Bressin (Ben) and Ross. Ross was for a time President of Temotu Province's Provincial Assembly. (NS Feb. 1961; Hepworth to editor, NS 29 Mar. 1974, 27 Sept. 1974; Irvine 2000; Close 2011,16-30)

Published resources

Books

• Close, Jack, South Pacific Adventure: The Sequel to 'Beyond the Horizon', Riverhead, Hull, 2011. Details
• Irvine, Lucy, Faraway, Randam House, Sydney, 2000. Details

Journals

• British Solomon Islands Protectorate (ed.), British Solomon Islands Protectorate News Sheet (NS), 1955-1975. Details